Hi there,

I hope these few lines on our recent runners, and those who are due
to be seen out shortly, will be useful to keep you updated. The
newsletters aren't designed to be a vehicle to offer up general
opinion but you may find a couple of things interesting to read about.

KANDJAR DALLIER - he ran in the Peter Marsh Chase last Saturday. The
owners & I were getting quite optimistic turning out the back
straight on the second circuit as Kandjar was cruising along in the
lead & had several behind him off the bridle. Wayne Hutchinson said
he was happy until pressing some buttons 4 out, where he made
mistake, but the petrol tank then went to zero very quickly. He
finished 6th. It was disappointing but maybe the very soft ground
took it's toll or it was just an off day as Kandjar can normally be
relied upon to battle.

The handicapper raised the very game winner Cloudy Lane 4lb, dropped
the 4th home D'argent 4lbs, yet dropped Kandjar just one pound
despite him being beaten a total of 41 lengths.

CHARMAINE WOOD - she was pulled out at the last minute on Sunday due
to the bad ground at Towcester. Charmaine can cope fine with pretty
soft ground but not what we evidenced here. Choc rode in the first
race and said it was bottomless verging on unraceable so we were left
with no option but to withdraw. Had we known early enough what the
ground truly was then Charmaine & the owners could have saved
themselves a long journey.

There is no point sweeping this one under the carpet. The going
report issued by the Towcester clerk at 8am was badly inaccurate. He
gave it as Soft, with a Going stick reading of 7.9, which was
identical to the report on November 26th when she last won at the
track. Logically you would expect it to ride about the same but in
reality it was chalk & cheese.

An hour before racing started the going was changed to soft with
heavy patches. It was a sunny day, no rain had fallen, so how can
that happen ? Where did these heavy patches suddenly appear
from ?. Just after the first race had been run, and jockeys had
chance to report back to connections, 3 other horses withdrew from
our race. It wasn't just Charmaine Wood's connections who had a
wasted day therefore.

We should expect better & Towcester aren't the only one's to issue a
going report that has been less than accurate recently. We take a
lot of time trying to place our horses correctly & to run them on the
right ground so that they can perform to their best. It's very
disappointing when we find this effort has been wasted in what are
clearly avoidable circumstancies. Tracks must become more
accountable as it's the owners who are left disadvantaged & have to
foot the bills.

On a far more positive note ....... Charmaine Wood remains in good
form & will now run tomorrow at Doncaster with Christian Williams in
the plate. The clerk assures me it will be soft ground as long as
the weather forecast proves correct. I've had some feedback from
connections at the track today & genuine soft, with a bit of Good to
Soft, is an accurate assessment.

Christian has won on her twice this season so he knows the mare
well. It will be her first step up into handicap company and it's
sure to be a competitive race but we hope she'll cope with Ok. Her
breeding suggests the move up in trip to an extended 2m3f should suit.

OSCAR JACK - he was raised 11 pounds for his 6L win at Taunton to a
new chase mark of 107. The hurdles handicapper also raised Oscar
6lbs to a new mark of 102. The recently introduced system now allows
the hurdles handicapper, as in this case, to amend Oscar's mark
despite him not having run in that different discipline.

We took the opportunity to run Oscar under a 7lb penalty at Warwick
yesterday where he finished 3rd. He did well enough but Sam said he
ran a bit flat & didn't jump anywhere near as well as he did at
Taunton. The ground was very heavy & gluey so that probably didn't
help his jumping. Sam said he tried hard but it's tough to recover
from a slow jump & to pick up once more on such a sapping surface.
Oscar will have a short break but I'm sure he can win again on better
ground.

DANSIMAR - she takes her chance in the final race of the day at
Cheltenham on Saturday. It's a 2m1f handicap hurdle where she'll
carry 10st 5lbs if we take Aidan Coleman's valuable 3lb claim into
account. With the ground forecast to be pretty testing it's sure to
be a stamina test but her breeding suggests that will not be a
problem & we knows she goes on heavy.

Dansimar seems to be over whatever troubled her last time which is
encouraging & her work has been fine at home. She has a bit to prove
after disappointing at Wincanton but we are hopeful of an improved
run.

VALLEYOFTHEDOLLS - is pleasing Alan at home as she is schooling &
working nicely. The plan to race at Uttoxeter tomorrow has been
thwarted by the rain but we have alternative races at Kempton (Mon)
and Taunton (Tue) as the next options. I'm hopeful she'll get to
jump hurdles in public soon but we will need reasonable ground.

THEATRE DIVA - she was due to race today at Newbury in a mares event
but that meeting was abandoned. Luckily there is another 0-125 race
for mares at Ludlow, a track she goes well at, on 4th February. We
shall head there.

ASTURIENNE - will get an entry next Friday at Chepstow but her more
likely choice of race will be at Huntingdon on 5th February.

CHELTENHAM PREVIEW 9th MARCH in PRESTBURY - nearly 100 tickets have
been purchased so far. If anyone wishes to attend may I suggest you
get in touch next week as this event will be sold out in advance.

NICK LUCK - on a quiet day viewers were invited to mail into the RUK
studio and ask questions. One viewer posed a question about the
going stick & it's relevance to going reports. My apologies to Nick
if I misheard & therefore misrepresent him .........but he said
clerks should only use the going stick to issue reports & give up
with personal interpretation of the ground. This gave some food
for thought.

The Going Stick has a scale between 1 and 15. BHA spokesman Paul
Struthers is quoted in the Post (21/01) as saying " 1 does not equal
heavy and 15 does not equal hard. In reality 1 is a puddle and 15 is
a road ". That's fine but whatever way you look at it the lower the
number on the Going Stick scale then the softer the ground should
be. That's the theory.

On November 6th we ran Kandjar Dallier at Haydock. The official
going was Good (Good to Firm patches) with a going stick reading of
6.0. Compare this with Towcester on Sunday where it was Soft with
heavy patches but we saw a 7.9 reading. Are you as confused as
me ?

Best wishes
Mark
Racing Manager
www.letsliveracing.com